The Boy Who Waited
by AglonAuthor
Summary: When John was ten years old, a mysterious Doctor came to help him. Then he came back many years later. Episodes of season 5 - 7.1 with John and Sherlock in place of the companions. No slash!
1. Eleventh Hour - Part I

1: The Eleventh Hour - Part I

****IMPORTANT**  
Anyone who has read my fanfiction 'The Twelfth Hour' can go ahead an skip to chapter 3. BUT some slight changes have been made, but you can still skip ahead.**

It was silly. Why would Santa pay attention to him at this time of year? Besides, you couldn't just talk to him, you had to write a letter! Jonathan shook off the thoughts and concentrated on the problem at hand. He sat down on his bed and closed his eyes.

"Dear Santa… Thank you for the cars and all the other toys you've given me. It's near Halloween, so I hope I'm not bothering you with the season coming. But I promise it's important…it's an emergency."

He quickly glanced at his closet before closing his eyes tightly once more. "There's…something wrong with my closet. Harry says it's nothing to worry about, and says I'm just scared of shadows, but I know it's no ordinary closet. And I know this because…I can hear voices and strange noises coming from it at night. So, if you can, please send someone to fix it. One of your elves, or—or even a policeman!"

Suddenly, a strange sound interrupted his thoughts. It was a whooshing, grinding sound. Then it was interrupted with a crash. Jonathan looked up. "Be right back." He then jumped off of his bed and looked out his window. A blue box was lying on its side in the front yard. He went back to his bed. "Thank you, Santa." Jonathan quickly threw on a coat and hurried out the door.

Jonathan ran out of the door as he zipped up his jacket. He went over to the box and stood in front of it. Without warning, the doors swung out, steam pouring out of it and making Jonathan jump. Then a grappling hook was thrown out, latching on to the edge of the box. After a few moments of suspense, a hand grabbed on to the edge, followed by another. Then a head popped out. Jonathan took a step back.

It was a strange man. The man was soaking wet. He had ripped clothes, and this made him look awfully ragged. He grinned from ear to ear and Jonathan could only stare. "Can I have an apple?" he said. "All I can think about. Apples. I love apples. Maybe I'm having a craving! That's new, never had cravings before." The raggedy man stepped on to the edge of the box and sat down on it. He looked back down into the strange blue box and gazed at the interior. "Woooah...! Look at that!"

"Um…are you okay?" wondered Jonathan.

"Just had a bit of a fall, that's all. All the way down there, right to the library." He shook his head. "One heck of a climb to get back up."

Jonathan cocked his head slightly. "But you're wet. If you fell into the library, how are you wet?"

"I was in the pool."

Jonathan got a bit annoyed. "But you said you were in the library!"

"So is the pool."

There was a short silence between the two. "Are you a policeman?" Jonathan asked. The man inspected Jonathan for a moment.

"Why? Did you call a policeman?"

"Yeah, I did," said Jonathan with a nod. "Or at least I guess I did. Did you come about my closet?"

"Closet?—" The raggedy man stopped short a jerked a little bit and fell off of the box on to the soft soil. Jonathan gasped.

"Are you okay?" The strange man jumped up and opened his mouth and some strange gold dust floated out. Jonathan's eyes widened. "Who are you?"

"Not quite sure yet. Still cooking." The man shook his head and smiled. "Does it scare you?"

"It's actually not scary, just a bit weird."

"No no, the closet," the man clarified.

"Oh, well, I guess I am scared of it…"

The man grinned. "Well I can help." He bounced up and down and looked at his hand, softly glowing gold.

"Who are you?" asked Jonathan again.

"I'm The Doctor," he said proudly. He turned around and walked straight into a tree.

-(:)-(:)-(:)-(:)-(:)-(:)-(:)-(:)-(:)-

The Doctor and Jonathan and were both in the kitchen as John searched the fridge for an apple. The Doctor casually looked around the room, taking everything in. "If you're a doctor, why does your box say 'police' on it?" Jonathan handed him an apple and he took it, looking slightly affronted. He sniffed it and took a bite. He then nonchalantly spit it out. Jonathan scrunched his face as the bits of food flew past his face.

The Doctor held up the apple. "This is disgusting. What is it?"

"It's an apple, like you asked for."

"This is gross. I hate apples, apples are rubbish."

Jonathan was confused. "But you said you loved apples!"

"No no no no, I like yogurt. I need yogurt. Yogurt's my favorite. Gimme yogurt."

Jonathan rushed to the fridge and grabbed a blueberry yogurt. He closed the door and went over to The Doctor. The Doctor snatched the yogurt and took a big mouthful, promptly spitting it back out. "Yogurt. It is so bland. It's just stuff with bits in it."

"But you said it was your favourite!"

"Not anymore. New mouth, new rules. It's like eating after brushing your teeth. Everything tastes WROOOONNNGG!" The Doctor's head jerked back, as if feeling something course through his body. He brought his hand up to his forehead and slapped as he straightened once more.

"What is it? Are you alright? What's wrong with you?" asked Jonathan intensively, pestering The Doctor with his questions.

"What's wrong with me? Nothing's wrong with me! It's not my fault I can't get any decent food. You're British; make a pastry or something. How 'bout crumpets?"

"I can't cook pastries," confessed Jonathan. "But I can cook some meat."

After several minutes of him frying bacon and The Doctor drying himself with a towel, Jonathan gave him the food. "Oooooh, bacon! Bacon's good." The Doctor began to eat as soon as the plate was put in front of him. Jonathan was feeling proud of himself until The Doctor spit the food into his hand and put it back on the plate. "This is bacon," The Doctor stated. He leaned in close. "Are you trying to poison me?"

After going through beans (which were spit into the sink and being declared as "bad bad beans") and bread and butter (which was immediately thrown out the door and told to stay out) Jonathan was running out of options. "I have some pears," he suggested.

"Pears?" asked The Doctor in horror. "Are you mad? Wait!" he said. "I know what I need!" He ran over to the fridge and opened it, taking out two boxes. "Fish fingers…and custard!"

A few minutes later, Jonathan was sitting across The Doctor at the table. The Doctor was dipping the fish fingers into the custard and eating them while Jonathan had some plain custard.

"Interesting."

"Interesting. That's often good. I'm glad I'm interesting. Great. What's your name?"

"Jonathan Watson."

"Interesting. Like John Watson from the Sherlock Holmes stories." Jonathan gave The Doctor a confused look. "The colleague of Holmes. Watson." Jonathan continued to give him a confused look. "Right. Your parents must have thought it through. Speaking of which, shouldn't we have waken them by now?"

"They're not here."

"Is anyone else here?"

"No. My sister's at a friend's house."

"So you're alone?"

"I'm not scared!" protested Jonathan.

"Of course you're not scared! You're not scared of much. Box falls out of sky. Man climbs out of box. Man eats fish custard. You wanna know what I think of all this?" John gave him a look that said: 'What?' The Doctor leaned back in his chair. "That must be one heck of a scary closet you have."

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The Doctor examined the closet as Jonathan stood at the door. "I wasn't very fond of apples before. Then my mum started putting words and pictures on them, so I ate 'em." He held out an apple with the letters I O U. The Doctor gave it a weird look as he put it in his pocket. Jonathan walked up to the closet. "Can you find out what's wrong?" he inquired. The Doctor put his ear to the closet door and rubbed it, knocking on it occasionally.

He pushed himself away from it and took out a small silver device with a light at the top. "Have you ever opened this closet, Jonathan?"

He shook his head. "No, actually."

"Now why would you never open a closet?" The Doctor asked.

"Because it couldn't be opened." The Doctor turned to Jonathan. "Can you fix it?"

"Maybe. You know how an adult says everything will be fine but you know they're lying?" Jonathan nodded with a sigh. "Everything's going to be fine."

The Doctor pointed the strange device at the closet. He pressed a button and it buzzed and glowed blue. There was a bang and the door swung open. Jonathan's mouth was agape.

There was a whole different room inside! But it was definitely not part of the house. It was futuristic, but a bit dark, since the lights weren't on. The Doctor was not phased by this in any way whatsoever, seeming to have had experience with this sort of thing. Suddenly, someone came into view. They were of normal height, but weren't normal humans at all. They had two extra fingers (as the glove indicated) on each hand. They were bald, but the head was wavy. The actual head! They seemed shocked that The Doctor and Jonathan were looking in through the doorway. "Intruders! Raise the alarm! There are two intru—" Though the strange person didn't get to finish the sentence. The Doctor slammed the door shut and pointed his small machine at the doorknob, making a buzz and a click.

Jonathan was in shock. "Who was that?" he asked worriedly. "_What_ was that?"

The Doctor started pacing the room. "That was a Chuntarian. An alien. They hunt and collect and sell people corpses. It's morbid, but it's their way of life. That was the Chuntarian ship, but why does your closet lead to it?" Then some strange noises interrupted. The Doctor looked out the window. "No!" He ran down the staircase and ran out the door. He hurried to the box. "It needs to be fixed. Quick jump into space at the edge of the solar system and jump into the future should give a good start. That should do it!"

"Jump into space? Jump into the future? How? It's just a box!"

"It's not just a box! It's a time machine. It can travel through space too."

"But I want to go with you!" protested Jonathan.

"You can't. It'll kill you until it's fixed. Five minutes, that's all. I'll be back in five."

"Then can I go?"

"Maybe. Geronimoooooooooo!"

The mysterious blue box disappeared with grinding whooshing noises and the light on top blinking. Jonathan ran back inside and into his room. He took his backpack off of its hook and began putting clothes and other things in it. He zipped it up and ran outside with it, proper shoes and a cap on. He went into the front yard and sat down on the short brick wall. He sat there and waited, telling himself: "He said five minutes, it'll probably just take one more." Jonathan continued telling himself this for quite a while. Sooner than he though he would, Jonathan fell asleep, only to be found by his sister the next morning.

-(:)-(:)-(:)-(:)-(:)-(:)-(:)-(:)-(:)-

All was calm in the outskirts of London. Nothing exciting was happening. Then suddenly, a noise broke the silence. It was like a leaf lower with rocks stuck in it…for lack of a better description. This noise was coming from none other then a blue box that slowly began to fade into the scene. Once it was solid, the door swung open and a man stepped out. He wore a messed up tie with a ripped shirt and pants torn at the knees. The clothes gave him a ragged appearance. This man was The Doctor. He looked around and saw the house he needed.

The Doctor ran up to the door. "Jonathan!" he yelled. "Jonathan, I figured out what was wrong! I know all of it now, but you have got to get out of this house!" He put his sonic screwdriver up to the door handle and pressed the button. The Doctor had to hit it on his hand a few times to get it to work. Once the door was open, he hurried inside.

The Doctor ran up the stairs and into Jonathan's empty room. He put his ear against the closet door. Taking out the sonic screwdriver, he scanned it. "There's still a bridge," he muttered. "There's still a bridge to the Chuntarian's ship!" said The Doctor in a raised voice. He bounced up and down. "Can't anyone hear me?" Something wasn't right. He heard a floorboard creak behind him. The Doctor was about to turn around when something hit him in the back of the head, knocking him out cold.

-(:)-(:)-(:)-(:)-(:)-(:)-(:)-(:)-(:)-

The Doctor slowly came to his senses. He blinked several times, trying to quickly regain full consciousness. "Great. Brand new me. Just what I need, a clonk on the head." He looked up and saw a man. He had his arms folded as he looked down at The Doctor. The Doctor tried to stand but fell back down when he realized his hand was zip-tied to the desk. He looked around, knowing he was still in Jonathan's room.

"Who are you and why are you here?" the man asked, getting straight to the point.

The Doctor ignored the question and threw out his own. "Who are you? Where's Jonathan?"

The man raised an eyebrow. "Jonathan?"

"Yeah, that little ten year old boy! He lives here!"

"Nobody has lived here for a two and a half years," he said, shaking his head. The Doctor groaned, realizing he was late. Really late.

"Great, right. Two years. Well who are you? No one lives here, why are you here?"

"I was in the neighborhood when I saw that box out front. Plus, sometimes I work alongside the police."

"So you're with the police?"

The man paused. "Yes."

"Well we need to get out of here. We need to leave, now."

"Why?" he asked.

The Doctor was getting impatient. "Just cut me loose, okay? The Chuntarians will overtake this house then infiltrate the planet. We need to get out of here! The closet won't remain sealed forever!"

"The closet? The Chuntarians? Are you mad?"

"Don't you realize?" The Doctor asked in a hushed tone. "The world is in danger!" The man turned around to look at the closet. He stepped towards it. "What…what are you doing? Get away from it!" The Doctor reached in his pocket only to find his sonic screwdriver missing. He searched the room for a pair of scissors to cut the zip-tie. He spotted some not that far from him, having fallen off the desk. He reached out to grab it, but couldn't reach. The Doctor looked back up at the person who was jiggling the handle of the closet door. "Don't open that door!"

"I can't," he said. He faced The Doctor. "What was that thing in your pocket?"

"It's called a sonic screwdriver, does it matter? Now come back here and cut me loose!" The man ignored The Doctor's protests and reached into his pant pocket, taking out The Doctor's sonic. "Give that to me!" he ordered. The man pointed it at the doorknob and pressed the button, making it buzz. "How do you even know how to work that?" The Doctor asked, mostly to himself. "Do I just have a face no one listens to?"

The man opened the door with a creak and stepped inside. The Doctor's hearts were beating quickly. He reached for the scissors again, managing to reach out and grab them. The Doctor then got to work trying to cut the thick zip-tie with the flimsy scissors.

Back in the closet, the man was in shock. It was a whole different place! He went further inside, exploring the place that was definitely not part of the house. It was futuristic, and mostly metal. He looked here and there before running into someone. Their eyes narrowed. They had seven fingers on each hand and a bald, wavy head. The man's eyes widened. "Intruder!" yelled the alien. "Intruder on board!" Suddenly a hand grabbed his arm. It was The Doctor.

"Run."

The Doctor and the still unnamed man were running as fast as they could. "Intruders! Raise the alarm!" Lights flashed and the two men ran. The Doctor grinned as he looked back and saw four Chuntarian guards in hot pursuit. The two men ran through the door and into the bedroom. The Doctor grabbed his sonic from the man and closed the door, locking it.

They both leaned against the door, panting and trying to catch their breath. "So," said The Doctor, "what's your name?"

"Is that really important right now?"

"Well I'm not going to call you 'guy' or 'you' anymore, so I'm going to need your name."

"When I need to tell you, I'll tell you." He pushed off from the door. "Now can you tell me why this door—" His phone dinged, interrupting his sentence. He sighed and took it out, looking at the text message.

Get to Scotland Yard  
-SH

"What's that?" asked The Doctor, trying to get a look.

"Nothing," said the man, jerking his phone away. "I just need to go."

He began to walk away and The Doctor followed. "You're unfazed about the fact that you just walked onto an alien space ship. You act like you've seen it before; why?"

He tried to wave it off. "I've seen strange things in my life, okay?" They walked out the door and into the front yard.

The Doctor was about to say something until he saw the brick wall out in front. The same brick wall Jonathan had sat on. "Wait wait wait." The Doctor ran over to it and did some half circles around it. "That's strange. When I came last, I landed on it. Half of it was smashed to pieces!" He looked closely at the newer side. "But this has to be at least fifteen years old!" He sniffed, rubbed, and licked the wall. "It's twenty years old," he said quietly. "I'm not two years late…I'm twenty years late." The Doctor turned to the man. "You told me no one has lived here in two years, but the part of the wall I broke is twenty years old, how is that?" The man opened and closed his mouth a few times. "How is that possible? Two years and twenty years, how are they the same? They aren't! Why did you say two and a half years?"

The man snapped. "Well why did you say only five minutes?!" he yelled.

The Doctor was silent. "J-J…" he stuttered.

Jonathan Watson hailed a taxi. He sighed. "I'm sorry," he said in a not sorry tone, "I have to get to Scotland Yard." He climbed into the cab and left a confused and upset Doctor in the front yard of his old house.

-(:)-(:)-(:)-(:)-(:)-(:)-(:)-(:)-(:)-

Sherlock and John stood in Lestrade's office. Sherlock had noticed John was awfully quiet since he came back from the suburbs of London. He had clearly been running, but why? He was slightly angry, but at whom?

"We've got kidnappings," said Lestrade, giving Sherlock a folder. He opened it. "There's—"

"Murders," said Sherlock.

"Excuse me?" said Lestrade.

"Murders. Not kidnappings. There's some blood on the carpet in this photo," Sherlock said, holding it up, "and there's a little bit of blood on the table in this one." He held up the other picture.

"Of course we saw that, but our sources tell us that it was not a murder. There was no motive. These are just normal, everyday people! No money for ransom and no political importance to result in a kidnap, let alone a murder!"

"Chuntarian," said The Doctor, walking casually into the room. "They're the cause. But that doesn't make sense, they know it's against the galactic laws to attack a class five planet!"

"I'm sorry, who are you?" wondered Lestrade.

"I'm The Doctor," he said simply.

"You're acting worse than my sister," muttered John.

"I'm The Doctor, I'm worse than everybody's sister…That's not how I'm introducing myself. Now! We need to get back to Jonathan's old house and stop them before there's more attacks."

"It's just John now, Doctor," John muttered.

The Doctor turned to the blogger. "Why'd you change it?"

"Not enough like the stories."

"Do you know this guy?" Lestrade asked John, jabbing his thumb towards The Doctor.

"Clearly," Sherlock said. "Is this who you're angry with, John?"

"I don't believe I know your name," said The Doctor.

"Sherlock Holmes," he said. The Doctor stopped moving around and stood stock still, looking at Sherlock. He walked closer to him.

"You? You're Sherlock Holmes? But…how is that possible?" He turned swiftly around, looking at the others. "What year is it?"

"2008," said Lestrade. "Can someone get this mad man out of here?" he called out.

"2008, exactly! No where near the nineteenth century! Although I must say, it is a fun place. But still! You are THE Sherlock Holmes?"

"Yes. The world's only consulting detective." It was strange. Sherlock couldn't deduce the man. All he could see on him was old eyes. Eyes that held all the knowledge in the universe in them. Eyes that have seen everything. "Why are you so surprised?"

"Tell me if any of these ring a bell," The Doctor said. "Sir Arthur Conan Doyle?" He got no response from the other three in the room. "Okay…A Study in Scarlet?"

"We had a case that we called A Study in Pink," said John.

"We? You named it that," corrected Sherlock. "I wasn't involved in the creation of that title in anyway. Not that I even wanted you posting our cases on your blog in the first place."

The Doctor seemed to be in shock. "John Watson and Sherlock Holmes," he said quietly. A grin broke out on his face. It quickly fell. "Fictional, but how?!" He slapped his head over and over again.

"I'm sorry," said John, "fictional?"

"I don't expect you to understand," The Doctor muttered. "Think think think think think think think think—"

An explosion rattled their thoughts. It didn't reached them, but they could feel the shake. People screamed and ran in every direction. Sherlock looked out the window and down at the ground. The building was on fire only a few floors down. He turned towards the others. "We need to vacate the building," he said. "There's a fire two floors down. It won't be long before it reaches this level."

"You three," said The Doctor, pointing to Lestrade, John, and Sherlock. "Get to the fire escape."

"But what about you?" asked John.

"I have something I need to get. And it's two floors down." He ran out of the office and wouldn't let anyone stop him.

"Well what are we standing around for?" Lestrade asked. "Let's go!" John didn't move. Sherlock grabbed him and pushed him out the door.

John looked towards the stairs and saw The Doctor running down them. He looked back to the Sherlock, then the staircase, and back at Holmes. "Sorry, Sherlock." He turned to the staircase. "Raggedy Doctor, you have a lot of explaining to do," he muttered.

John took off down the staircase, ignoring people's calls. He saw the smoke coming up the stairwell and reacted. John pulled the collar of his shirt up over his mouth and nose, trying to block out the smoke as best he could. He got down to the floor below and looked around, smoke stinging his eyes. He spotted The Doctor going further down the staircase. He ran down the steps, determine to bring the mysterious Doctor back away from the fire.

John got down to the level with the explosion. He saw a fairly large whole in the wall with smoke and fire everywhere. "Doctor!" he called out in a muffled voice. He swiveled around on the spot. There was so much smoke. "Doctor!" He coughed several times, eyes watering. Then he saw him. He was picking up the small metal device he used to open and close the closet door. He looked up and spotted John. "Doctor!"

"John! Jonathan, you're a bloody idiot!"

Smoke continued to infiltrate his lungs. He coughed again and the shirt fell. He fell to his knees, coughing nonstop. He tried to pull the collar over his face again, but his hands were covered in perspiration, making it difficult for him to get a good grip. He stood up and tried to get towards The Doctor, but flames soon blocked his path. It was too hard. There was so much smoke, so much fire. "Jonathan!" yelled The Doctor. "John, go to the fire escape! Go!" John hesitated before making his way to the fire escape. He got to the door and grabbed the doorknob. He yelped as he retracted his hand. That was gonna leave a mark. There was a fire behind the door. He was trapped in a burning building with no way out.

John tried to fight for consciousness. He did his best to stay close to the ground in not breath the fumes. But the ground was covered in ashes and fire. He heard creaking and looked up. John jumped away before getting smashed by pieces of the ceiling. Unfortunately, it got his right leg. He grit his teeth. This was bad. This was really bad. Sooner than he had hoped, John fell unconscious.

-(:)-(:)-(:)-(:)-(:)-(:)-(:)-(:)-(:)-

"Wake up!"

_Who was that?_

"John, get up!"

_Oh, they wanted him._

"Come on!"

John opened his eyes and sat up quickly. The Doctor grabbed his shoulder. "Are you alright?" he asked. John winced as he put weight on his hand.

"Yeah, I-I think I'll be okay." He glanced around. They were in a dark warehouse on a hard, cold, concrete floor. "Where are we?"

The Doctor looked up and turned, taking in the room. "Don't know. I black out trying to find you, next thing I know, we're here and you're unconscious on the floor." He stood up and was stock still. "Something's not right."

"Yes, you're right. We're in a warehouse."

"No. I mean, yes. I mean–…Oh!…" The Doctor trailed off, trying to find out what was happening. He felt a wave of pain course through him and he let out a hiss of pain. "It's too early for this," he muttered. "It's too soon. I'm not ready, not done yet."

It was silent for a bit and The Doctor leaned against the wall. "I haven't gotten answers," John said.

The Doctor looked up. "Wha'?"

"I said, I haven't gotten answers. This can't be real. This is one huge setup or-or something! The Chuntarian? Really? Aliens don't exist! This could easily just be one elaborate case I've involuntarily been put on!"

"It's real Jonathan," The Doctor said. "It's all real. Aliens exist. We set off the alarm on their ship twenty minutes ago. After forty-five minutes, they leave the atmosphere and blow up the planet to get rid of any evidence. We have twenty-five minutes to save the world. Why would this be a setup?"

"You said you had a time machine!"

"And you believed me."

"Well I don't know if you can't tell, but I'm not ten anymore. I've grown up, which must be something strange to you, clearly!" John yelled, gesturing up and down the Doctor.

"Growing up is never something you want to do." The Doctor paused when realization struck him. "Wait! The Chuntarian! They always go after the more special aliens. They wen't after me and you! I'm the last Time Lord, OF COURSE! And you may be asking yourself: 'Why me?' Well I'll tell you why. YOU are supposed to be fictional. These things don't often happen you know, books coming to life. Sure details can get mixed up over time and then written down. Take King Arthur for example. He's real, just not all the magic and all of that. But you exist after your time, and that shouldn't be! This is brilliant! A wonderful puzzle worth solving, but for a later day. We've been taken by the Chuntarian. I know how to defeat them but I'll need an extra hand. So…call your loved ones and say goodbye…or…stick with me and save the world."

There was a moment of silence between the two before John spoke. "No," he whispered.

"What?"

"NO!"

He grabbed The Doctor by his tie and pulled him over to the wall where a pipe was sticking out. "John!" said a very surprised Doctor. "No! Jonathan, what are you—?" John quickly pulled a zip tie from earlier out of his pocket and tied The Doctor to the pipe. "Jonathan, are you out of your mind?"

"Who are you?"

"Oh, you already know who I am."

"No. Really. Who are you, for real?"

"The Chuntarian are going to come."

"Then you better talk quickly."

The Doctor reached into his pocket with his free hand and rummaged around for a little bit before he found it. "Catch," he said, tossing an apple to John. John turned it over in his hands when he saw the letters, I O U. He looked up at The Doctor. "It's the same one," the Time Lord said, "and you know it is." He paused.

"I'm The Doctor. I'm a time traveler. Everything I told you twenty years ago is true. It's all true. I'm real. What's happening in this warehouse is real. And if you don't cut me loose right now, we will probably both die, and so will many others. We have twenty-five minutes." He put a hand on John's shoulder. "Trust me for twenty-five minutes."

Slowly, John reached into his pocket and took out his pocket knife. He cut The Doctor loose. "What do we do."

The Doctor smiled. "Get the Chuntarian's attention. And do you know what? Nothing says: 'Hey, look at me!' more than a sonic screwdriver!" The Doctor thrusted his sonic in the air and pressed the button. A high pitched buzz came from it, and the lights began to flicker. It snapped and sparked. The Doctor dropped his sonic on the ground. "No, no no no no! NO! Don't do that to me!" He kneeled down, trying to pick up the hopeless pieces of charred metal.

"Doctor," said John. The Doctor looked up to where John was looking.

"A window! Brilliant!" He ran over to the wall and looked up. "It's a bit high up there though." Footsteps could be heard.

"Um…Doctor, what was the plan after we got the Chuntarians' attention?" wondered John.

"Getting their attention was the plan," The Doctor said. "I was kind of winging it after that." He looked around frantically and spotted a box. He hurried over to it and pushed it over to the window.

"Doctor…" said John, noticing the steps getting closer.

"I know, I know!" He got on top of the box and pushed open the window. "John, go!" John got on the box and slid out the window. The Doctor turned back around and saw two Chuntarian.

"The captives are escaping!" one yelled. The Doctor held onto the windowsill and kicked away the box. He pulled himself up and out through the window. He hadn't expected such a large drop, but hey! There were bushes to help break the fall. He got up and saw John leaning on the side of the building.

"So…" The Doctor said. "Twenty-five minutes to save the world from getting burned?"


	2. Eleventh Hour - Part II

2: The Eleventh Hour - Part II

The Doctor looked around. Suddenly, the sky began to go dark. "Doctor, what's going on?" asked John.

"It's the Chuntarian. They're preparing to blow up the planet."

"Unless…?"

"Unless what? They're preparing to blow up the planet!"

"Wait wait wait. You mean, there's no way to stop this?"

"There is, but it'll take some convincing." The Doctor looked back up at the sky. "I need a laptop. Where's the nearest place I can use one?"

"The flat—"

"Good, let's go." The Doctor took off down the street.

"Wait!" said John, running after him. "You don't even know where you're going!"

The Doctor smiled and hailed a cab. "'Course I do! 221B Baker Street!"

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The Doctor ran into the flat, John close behind. Sherlock looked up from John's laptop. "John—" Sherlock began. The Doctor interrupted Sherlock by grabbing the laptop.

"Laptop! Gimme!" He took it over to the couch and sat down. "The Science of Deduction? Do you do anything BUT solve crimes?" He began to click various things and type.

Mrs. Hudson walked into the room. "Are you two alright?" she asked Sherlock and John. "I saw the explosion on the news."

"We're alright," said John. He turned to The Doctor. "Doctor, what are you doing?"

"Who's this young man?" asked Mrs. Hudson, looking at The Doctor.

The Doctor looked up. "I look young?" He looked back down at the laptop. "Well that's good." He clicked some more and changed the subject. "Sky's gone wibbly, so right now, somewhere out there, there's gonna be a big ol' video conference call. All the experts in the world, panicking at once, and do you know what they need? Me. Ah, and here they all are. All the big boys. NASA, Jodrell Bank, Tokyo Space Center, Patrick Moore."

"Oh," said Mr. Hudson. "I like Patrick Moore."

"I'll get you his number. But watch out, he's a devil." The Doctor went away, typing at the computer.

"You can't just hack into a call like that!" said John.

"Oh I can't, hm?"

After a few moments of scanning the internet and hacking, The Doctor did it. Several screens showed up on the computer. Several of the people began to talk at once.

"Who are you?"

"What are—"

"You're—"

"This is a secure call, what are you doing?"

The Doctor held up his psychic paper to the webcam. "Hello."

"It's blank," said Sherlock. The Doctor looked up, then looked at his psychic paper.

"Oh you truly are a genius. Brilliant."

"What do you mean it's blank?" asked John. "It clearly says—" The Doctor handed the paper to John. "…Sir Doctor of the TARDIS…what?"

"Psychic paper. Long story. Now where's a tall fairly nearby building?"

"St. Bart's," answered Sherlock.

"Brilliant. No, leave your phone, Sherlock, I'm gonna need it. Go and I'll meet you there. Oh! And be prepared for Chuntarian." At this, John picked up his gun. "Oh, not guns. I don't like guns. Too…kill-y." He looked at the two. "Quickly!" The detective and the blogger hustled out of the room. "Anyway! Fermat's Theorem, the proof, and I mean the real one, never been seen before, poor Fermat got killed in a duel before he could write it down. My fault. I slept in. Oh, and here's an oldie but a goodie, why electrons have mass, and a personal favorite of mine, faster than light travel with two diagrams and a joke." The Doctor stopped typing. "Look at your screens. Whoever I am, I'm a genius. Look at the sky. You need all the help you can get. Fellas - pay attention."

He grabbed Sherlock's phone from off of the table. "Sir," one of the people said, "what are you doing?"

"I am writing a computer virus, very clever, super fast, and a tiny bit alive," The Doctor explained, "but don't let on. And why am I writing it on a phone? Never mind. You'll find out. Okay, I'm sending this to all your computers. Get everyone who works for you sending this everywhere. Email, text, Facebook, Bebo, Twitter, radar dish. Whatever you've got, any questions?"

"Who was your lady friend?" wondered Patrick Moore.

"Patrick, behave."

Lestrade walked through the door, planning on talking to Sherlock about the bombing, but was greeted by this strange scene. "What are you doing here?" he asked The Doctor.

"Shush," said The Doctor.

"What does this virus do?" asked one of the conference members.

"Oh, it's a reset command, that's all, it resets counters, it gets in the wi-fi and resets every counter it can find. Clocks, calendars, anything with a chip will change to twelve at exactly the same time. But yeah, I could be lying, why should you trust me? I'll let my best man explain."

He stood up and put his hand on Lestrade's shoulder. "You're my best man."

"What?"

"Listen to me. In seven minutes, you're gonna be a legend. In seven minutes, everyone on that screen is gonna be offering you any job you want."

"I already have a job!"

"But first, you have to be magnificent. You have to make them trust you and get them working. This is it, Detective, right here, right now. This is when you fly. Today's the day you save the world."

Lestrade stood in slight shock for a moment before answering. "But why me?"

"Because I need John and Sherlock and you're the only one in this room. Now go go go!" He ran out the door.

After a moment, Lestrade went over to the laptop. "Alright then…let's—"

The Doctor ran back in. "Oh, and delete the internet history when you're done." He pointed at the computer and ran back out. Spotting something across the street, he grinned widely.

-(:)-(:)-(:)-(:)-(:)-(:)-(:)-(:)-(:)-

Sherlock burst through the doors into the morgue. Molly stood at the table, slightly confused and slightly relieved. "Sherlock, what's going on, why is the sky going dark?"

"Ask John. He's been the one going around town with a man named The Doctor and getting himself kidnapped."

"Wait, how did you…? Why do I even bother asking anymore?"

Molly stood stock still. "Did…did you say The Doctor?"

"Yes," said John. "Does the name mean anything to you?"

"Oh my gosh," Molly whispered. "Tall?" Dark brown eyes? Spiky brown hair? Trench coat? Red converse?"

"Um, sorry," said John, "no. He doesn't fit the description."

Molly's smile faltered slightly, but still remained. "Has a box called the TARDIS? Travels through time and space?"

John was surprised. "Uh, yeah. Yeah, that's him." Molly grinned. "Do you know him?"

"I traveled with him. The Doctor, the man with an adventure. He landed in my backyard when I was a little girl. Found me again when I was in medical school. He had changed his face. I ran away with him. He showed me the stars, everything that was and all that will be."

"He landed in your backyard?" John smiled slightly. "Sounds a bit like my story." Molly opened her mouth to speak when the door swung open. In stepped a Chuntarian with a large gun in their hands. John pulled out his gun.

"John Watson," the Chuntarian said.

"It knows my name, how does it know my name?"

Sherlock reached into his pocket and took out a small round device. He pressed a button on it and tossed it at the Chuntarian. It hit the ground right at the alien's feet. Many lights blinked on the device and the Chuntarian grabbed their helmet. Then it fell backwards through the door.

"Why do I get the feeling you pickpocketed The Doctor?" said John.

"Did you kill it?" asked Molly.

"No, he's merely stunned." Sherlock walked briskly over to the door and over the body. John followed quickly behind.

"I'm going with you," said Molly.

"Molly—"

"I know The Doctor. I've faced things like this before."

"So is his life always like this?" John wondered. "Fighting aliens and saving the world?"

"More or less." The trio stopped outside of a door on the next level and saw two people. One was a woman and the other was a little girl. Most likely mother and daughter. "Mrs. Reten, Alice, what are you doing here?" asked Molly.

"There were creatures in there!" said Alice. "Strange creatures with seven fingers! They looked like aliens."

"I'm texting The Doctor," John said. Not long after sending the first text, his phone rang and he answered it.

"I'd much prefer to talk. Don't really like texting. Especially since I'm trying to drive a very large red truck right now."

"Doctor, there's lots of Chuntarian here."

"We'll I'm on my way. Which floor are you on?"

John paused. "Um, the fourth. Why?"

"They were scary Ms. Hooper," came Alice's voice. "They said they had come to destroy evidence." All eyes turned to the two. "To destroy the planet." Though it was Alice's voice, Mrs. Reten's mouth was the one that was moving. There was a short paused. "Oh, I've got it wrong," said Mrs. Reten's voice out of her own mouth. "I still haven't gotten down the whole multi-form technique."

"Doctor…" John said quietly.

The two people opened their mouths and began to hiss. "John? John, what's going on?" asked The Doctor. "John, get into a room and make sure there aren't any Chuntarians!" Following The Doctor's orders, he ran into the closest room. Molly and Sherlock followed. Molly grabbed a broom and handed it to John.

"Why do I need a broom?"

"The door!"

John wedged the broom between the handles. He put the phone back up to his ear. "Doctor—"

"Where are you?"

"Uh, at St. Bart's."

"No no no, where in Bart's floor? Ward? Everything!"

"Molly, what is this room?"

"It use to be the old morgue before it got moved a floor down."

"The old morgue, floor four."

"What was going on earlier?"

"I-I'm not too sure, actually. It was a woman and a child. The child started to speak but it was coming from the mother's mouth. She mentioned something about not having gotten down some multi-form technique."

There was a long pause.

"Oh…OH! THAT'S IT! Oh, this is brilliant!"

There was a bang on the door.

"Doctor…"

"Which window are you?"

"Sorry?"

"Which window!"

"Uh…" John glanced around. "On the right, fifth from the end."

The broom abruptly gave out and the doors swung open as shrapnel flew in all directions. The creature, whatever it was, walked in. "Oh John. Jonathan Watson. I watched you for eighteen years. I saw you from your closet; watched you grow up. Little John, waiting for his imaginary Doctor to return in his box. Well not this time. Nor ever again."

John's phone vibrated and he looked at the text. 'DUCK!' Molly and Sherlock saw the message and all three fell to the floor as a ladder came crashing through the window. Glass flew in several directions, just barely missing the trio. Then The Doctor climbed through the window on the ladder. He jumped in between Sherlock and John, putting his arms around there shoulders.

"Tada! Here I am! I must say, that was—" The Doctor stopped short as he laid his eyes on Molly.

"M-Molly?"

"Doctor."

The Doctor stepped forward. "Molly Hooper, the woman who followed!"

"Doctor, you've changed your face again."

"But you haven't changed a bit. Well, your hair's a bit longer." Molly smiled. "Well!" said The Doctor, clapping his hands together. "Right! Hello! Am I late? No! Still have just under four minutes."

"Late for what, Time Lord?" asked the alien.

"Take the disguise off, they'll find you in a heartbeat. Nobody dies."

"The Chuntarian will kill me. And when I die, oh there will be fire."

"They won't kill you, you're the last of your kind."

"Doctor, what is it?" asked Molly.

"Tragenta. The last one in existence. Their planet was destroyed over a millennia ago. It collided with another planet and both were destroyed. Tragentas can shapeshift. It's easier for them if they take two or three forms at once, for example, mother and daughter. I thought all the Tragentas were gone. But you're still here. You're still alive."

"It said it watched me from my closet," said John, "what does that mean?"

"You were a prisoner of the Chuntarians, weren't you?" The Doctor asked the Targenta. "You were in the ship connected to John's room for all those years?"

"Yes."

"But how did you escape?"

"There were cracks, Doctor. Cracks in the fabric of time itself. Cracks in the skin of the universe. Do you know where they came from?" The Doctor was silent. "The Doctor doesn't know!" said the child in a singsong voice. "The Doctor of the TARDIS doesn't know!" The mother's voice took over again. "The universe is cracked. The Pandorica will open. Silence will fall."

The Doctor looks at the clock on the wall. "Well, there we go!" The Tagenta turned to look at the clock. It said 12:12. "Yeah, I know, just a clock, whatever, but d'you know what's happening right now?" The Targenta turned back to face The Doctor, NOT amused. "In one little flat, my team is working. Detective Inspector Lestrade and the world. And, d'you know what they're doing? They're spreading the word. All over the world. Quantum fast. The word is out. And do you know what the word is? The word is twelve. The Chuntarians have messages not only through words, but through numbers. And do you know what twelve means? We have something for you! Now, me, if I was up in the sky in a battleship, monitoring all Earth communications, I'd probably take that as a hint. And if I had a whole battle fleet surrounding the planet, I'd be able to track a simple old computer virus to its source in…what, under a minute? The source, by the way…is right here."

The Doctor held up Sherlock's cellphone. Suddenly, a bright blue light shone through the window. "Ah ha! And here they are!" The trio looked out the window and spotted a large ship just outside, scanning the hospital.

"That's—"

"Yes, Sherlock, it's a real spaceship," said Molly.

"The Chuntarian are limited," countered the alien. "They cannot detect me while I am still in this form. They've tracked the phone, not me myself. You've lost, Doctor."

"Oh, but this is the best bit, I mean, really. Yeah! This is my favourite bit! Do you know what this phone is full of? Pictures of you. I don't think you've noticed, but I've taken plenty of pictures of you in the past two minutes. Oh, and, being uploaded, right about...now. And the final score is, no TARDIS, no screwdriver, one minute to spare. Who da man?!"

The Targenta looked unimpressed and John gave The Doctor a sympathetic smile. "Alright, alright! Fine! I'll never say that again. Once every reincarnation."

"Then I shall take a different form."

"Oh, come on. You know it takes weeks to get a psychic link with someone if you want to take their form. Months if you want to do multi-form."

"Oh," said the Targenta with a smile. "I've had over eight years, Doctor." The two figures glowed orange and there was some wind. The Doctor stood rock still, unnerved.

John grabbed his head and The Doctor spun around as he fell to the floor. "John!" He rushed to his side and the Chuntarian ship outside started scanning the whole hospital, having now lost knowledge the Targenta's form. "John! No, John! You need to stay awake! John, don't fall asleep! Fight it, hold on, please!"

"Doctor…" Molly said.

The Doctor looked up. Then he came face to face with himself. "Well that's rubbish! Who is that suppose to be?"

"You, Doctor."

"Me? Gosh, is that what I look like?"

"How do you not know what you look like?" wondered Sherlock.

"It's been one heck of a busy day." He looked down at John. "But how are you copying me? You're linked with John, how do you copy me?"

"I'm not copying you," said his identical twin. Then out from behind the Targenta walked ten year old John Watson.

"Is that—"

"Yes, that's what John looked like when he was ten, but that's not important!" The Doctor turned back to the Targenta.

"Poor John Watson. So young on the inside. Just waiting for his Doctor to return."

"Wait…he's not dreaming about me because he waited, he's dreaming because he can hear me!" The Doctor ran over to unconscious John's side. "John, listen to me, try to listen. Remember this morning, when I walked into your old house. Try to think of the closet you could never open. Remember how you got inside of the closet and I tried to stop you? There was something else, wasn't there? Something in the corner of your eye? Imagine it, Jonathan! Think of what you saw!"

"No," whispered the Targenta. "No. No!" It faded into what looked like a small, fish like, snake like creature…with legs. Blue light infiltrated the room.

"The Targenta has been located," said a Chuntarian voice. "The Targenta has been restrained."

As the alien shapeshifter slowly faded away, it hissed one last message. "Silence, Doctor. Silence will fall."

The Doctor walked over to the window and looked out. The Chuntarian ship turned off the scans and flew off. The Doctor looked pleased, yet not quite satisfied. He took out Sherlock's phone.

"That's it?" asked Molly. "The sky's light again, is it over?"

The Doctor dialed a number and walked passed John, Sherlock, and Molly. John opened his eyes and groaned. "What's going on?"

"The Chuntarian left," said Sherlock. "The Doctor did it."

"Nope. No I didn't."

"What are you doing?"

"Tracking the signal back. Sorry in advance."

"For what?"

"The phone bill." Sherlock sighed. The Doctor brought the phone up to his ear. "Oi! I didn't say you could go! Article 57 of the Shadow Proclamation. This is a fully established level five planet. And you were gonna burn it? What? Did you think no one was watching? You lot. Back here, now!" He hung up and tossed the phone to Sherlock. "Oh, now I've done it."

"Did you just bring them back?" Sherlock asked. The Doctor walked out of the room. John got to his feet. "Did he just save the planet from aliens and then tell the aliens to come back?"

"Where are you going?" asked Molly.

"To the roof!" called back The Doctor. "No, actually. Hang on." The trio followed after The Doctor as he ducked into a cloakroom. They walked in to see him looking at clothes and throwing some behind his back. Molly picked up the clothes The Doctor threw.

"What's in here?" John asked.

"I'm saving the world, I'm gonna need a decent shirt! Who cares about raggedy? Time to put on a show!"

"You just brought the aliens back, Doctor," said Molly. "You did everything that needed to be done and then you summon murderous aliens back? These Chuntarian kill for a living! These are literally aliens of death and…and you're taking your clothes off…" Indeed, The Doctor began to strip in the corner of the room. "These clothes belong to people," said Molly.

"Turn your back if it embarrasses you!"

-(:)-(:)-(:)-(:)-(:)-(:)-(:)-(:)-(:)-

The Doctor stepped out onto the roof of St. Bart's. He had most of his new clothes all chosen, but had several different ties were draped over his shoulder.

"So this was a good idea, was it?" asked John. "They were leaving!"

"Leaving is good. Never coming back is even better." The Chuntarian ship came down and hovered above the roof. "Hello! Come oooooooooooon! The Doctor will see you now!"

A blue light scanned The Doctor. He patiently waited for the scanning to complete. The light disappeared. "You are not of planet Earth," came a voice. Most likely the captain on the ship.

"No, but I've put a lot of work into it." The Doctor held up a tie. "Hmm…eh…what do you think?"

"Is this world important?"

The Doctor laughed. "Important? What does that mean, important? Six billion people live here, is that important? Here's a better question: is this world a threat to the Chuntarian?" During all of this, The Doctor flung ties and other articles of clothing, a few of them hitting either Sherlock, Molly, or John. "Come on, you're monitoring the whole planet. Is this world a threat?"

The blue scanning light came forward and showed a hologram. It showed clips of many things. Wars, scientists, religious services, wrestling matches…

"No."

"Are the people of Earth guilty of any crime of the Chuntarian?"

More clips showed. Holidays, carnivals, space launchings, crowds…

"No."

"I've got one more, just one! Is this world protected?"

There were several more images. Cybermen marching through the streets, Daleks coming out of the Genesis arc, Cyberman smashing through door. The Empress of the Racnoss. The Ood. The Sycorax. The Sontarans. The Silurians. The Reapers. The Hath. And all the while over this, the Doctor is speaking.

"Because there have been so many. So many more! And what you have to ask yourself is…what happened to them?"

More images. Ten more. The first Doctor. The second Doctor. The third, the fourth, the fifth. Sixth. Seventh. Eighth. Ninth! Tenth! And when the Chuntarian got to the last image, The Doctor, now fully dressed with tweed jacket, bow tie and all, stepped through the hologram, making it fade away.

"Hello. I'm the Doctor…basically…run."

The ship shook and the blue light quickly disappeared. The Chuntarian flew away as fast as they could. The Doctor turned to Molly. "You could always come along," he said. "How about another adventure?"

Molly smiled kindly. "Sorry Doctor. I think it's someone else's turn to travel with you. I got mine." Molly glanced at John, who was talking to Sherlock and had his back turned.

The Doctor followed her gaze. He twitched slightly. There was something hot inside of his pocket. He pulled out an orange, glowing, TARDIS key.

"So is that it?" asked John. "Are they gone for good?" When no one answered, he turned around. The Doctor had left.

-(:)-(:)-(:)-(:)-(:)-(:)-(:)-(:)-(:)-

The TARDIS began to materialize on the side of the street. It had a St. John's Ambulance sticker on the side now, and the shading had changed slightly. John was up in the flat alone because Sherlock was off doing who knows what for a case he was on. John perked up at the noise and looked out the window. He saw The Doctor step out. Jumping to his feet, he grabbed a jacket and ran out the door.

He stopped at the door and saw The Doctor leaning on the side of his precious box. "Sorry about running off earlier. Brand new TARDIS and all. Just hopped to the moon and back. She's ready for the big stuff now."

John walked closer to the TARDIS. "You came back."

"Of course I came back! I always come back! Is that bad?"

"And you kept the clothes."

"Yeah. I just saved the world for the millionth time. No charge. Yeah, okay, shoot me. I kept the clothes."

John paused. "Even the bow tie?"

"Of course the bow tie. Bow ties are cool."

"Are you from another planet?"

"Yeah."

"…okay…"

"Does that bother you?"

"No. No, I've…uh it's just…it's fine."

"Wanna see some?"

"What?"

"See some other planets!" The Doctor clarified.

"What do you mean?" asked John.

"I mean…come with me. See the stars."

There was a long pause. "You mean…the Chuntarian, the Targenta, twelve—"

"Oh that's only the beginning."

"But all those things," said John, "all those amazing, crazy things…"

"Yeah?" said The Doctor, knowing where it was headed.

John stepped closer. "That was two years ago."

There was a long pause. "Ooooooooh, oops."

"Yeah," John said, slightly annoyed.

"So that makes it—"

"Twenty-two years!"

"Twenty-two years since fish custard. Jonathan Watson, the boy who waited. You've waited far long enough."

"So you still think I'm going to come with you?"

"You wanted to come twenty-two years ago," said The Doctor.

"Yeah, well I grew up."

"Oh, well I can fix that." The Doctor lifted up his hand and snapped his fingers. The doors of the TARDIS slowly opened with a slight creak. John looked inside the TARDIS with wide eyes. The Doctor looked quite smug as John stepped inside. The Doctor followed after him, closing the door behind him. John opened and closed his mouth as he looked around the room. "Well? Anything you want to say? Any passing remarks? Trust me, I've heard them all." He walked over to the console and did a little bounce when he got there.

"I'm…inside of a phone booth…that's…bigger on the inside."

"Police box, not a phone booth," said The Doctor, strolling around the console. John takes on more look around before walking over to The Doctor.

"You seem so sure that I'm coming."

"Well you're still Doctor John Watson. Friend of Sherlock Holmes. Yeah, you're coming."

There was a pause before John said anything else. "Can you get me back before tomorrow morning?" he asked.

The Doctor laughed. "It's a time machine. And can take you back to yesterday if needs be." He pulled on some levers and pushed some buttons. "Why? What's tomorrow?"

"Nothing!" John answered, a little quickly. "Just…stuff…for a cousin of mine…"

"Alright," said The Doctor. "Back tomorrow for 'stuff for a cousin'." Another sonic screwdriver poked out of the console. "Perfect! Ah, a new one." The Doctor pressed the button. "And it's green!" he said excitedly. "Thanks dear," he whispered to the TARDIS. He began to spin around the console, doing more probably pointless things.

After a few moments, John went up to The Doctor. "Why me?"

"Why not?"

"No, really. You're basically asking me to run away in the middle of the night. It's a fair question, so why?"

"Fun! I dunno! Do I need to have a reason?"

"Most people do have reasons."

"Do I look like most people?" John paused. Well…no…he didn't look like most people. He was a time traveling alien wearing a bow tie for goodness sake! "Been knocking around on my own for a while, my choice, but I've started talking to myself, all the time, it's giving me an earache."

"You're lonely," John concluded. "That's it. Just that."

"Just that. Promise." There was a short pause as John looked around the room a bit more. "Are you sure you're okay?" The Doctor asked. "I mean, sometimes it can…you know…make people…feel a bit weird. You know."

"Fine. Yeah! I-I'm fine. It's just…it's a whole other world in here. Just like you said. It's true. It's all true. I'd just…I'd started to think you were only a madman with a box."

"Oh, Jonathan Watson. One thing you need to know about me, is that I am most definitely a madman with a box." He flicked a switch. "So! Care to say goodbye?"

John smiled and walked over to the door. He looked out the door and saw the flat. "Goodbye, Baker Street," he whispered, "hello…" He turned and looked at The Doctor leaning against the console. "Everything." He closed the door and went back to The Doctor, who was grinning. He pulled down a large lever and the TARDIS began to shake violently. John and The Doctor clung to the console and The Doctor laughed.

Eventually, the TARDIS dematerialized from the street. But inside John's room, the phone rang. After a few moments, the answering machine picked up.

"Hey John," came a voice. "So how's my best man? You ready for the wedding tomorrow? Ha, I don't think I am. But I really do love Amy Pond, I really, honestly, truly, do. I know I should do this. You coming to the bachelor's party tonight? Well it's in a half hour if you can make it. Now don't be late for my wedding tomorrow, because you know what the family's like." The person on the line laughed. "Make sure you don't get caught up in a case now. You don't want to be late for your cousin Rory's wedding, now do you? Well see you tomorrow if not tonight." The line hung up and John's suit stuck out from his closet.


	3. The Beast Below - Part I

3: The Beast Below - Part 1

All the children began to leave their desks, forming a line at the front of the classroom. Several boys and girls were addressed by a robotic voice of a man, and quickly left. "Well done, Mabel," said the robotic teacher. "Well done, Alfie." The boy hurried off. "Good girl, Tabitha." There was one of the girls near the front who turned to face the lone boy left at his desk and jerked her head. This was a sign for him to get in line for reports. "Very well done, Ranjit," praised the voice. "Good girl, Chloe. Hesitantly, and with a sigh, the boy picked up his books and stepped in line, head hung low. "Well done, Ben." The girl who had gestured to the boy walked up to the teacher, who was a figure inside of a booth. "Well done, Astrid." Astrid quickly scurried off, getting away. The boy walked up to the figure, barely glancing up at it. "Bad boy, Jacob". The head of the teacher spun around to reveal a frowning, quite unpleased, face. "Zero."

Out in the hallway, Jacob glanced around and saw his sister Astrid. "You got a zero, didn't you?" It was more of a statement than a question, really.

Jacob hung his head sheepishly. "Yes," he replied, voice barely above a whisper.

His older sister sighed. "And you do know that means you walk home, right?"

Jacob looked up at her, eyes wide in a concoction of horror, sadness, and ever so slight confusion. "But…But that's twenty whole decks!"

"You know you can't use Vator with a zero. If you do, you'll get sent below." Jacob rolled his eyes at his sister. He never believed in those far fetched tales.

"Then walk home with me then," he pleaded.

"I need to meet Susan in five minutes, I don't have time." She gave him a quick hug, which Jacob did not appreciate, nor accept. "I'll wait for you though, once I finish talking to her." Astrid stepped into the Vator and the doors closed, leaving Jacob alone in the corridor.

Jacob humphed and looked around, checking to see if the coast was clear. There was a man who walked past him. Menacing expression on, pocket watch in hand. The strange man gave Jacob a quick, disapproving glance before walking on. Jacob shivered and looked back towards the Vator.

Another pair of doors opened and the second Vator was empty. Jacob stepped inside, no worries in mind. There was a similar booth to the one in the classroom, with the same type of man in it. "Welcome to Vator Verse," said a computerized voice, "sponsored by McLintock's Candy Burgers."

"London, please," Jacob said confidently. Sent below, ha! Yeah right. Astrid just wanted to scare him into making him walk.

The Vator began to move downwards, and Jacob stood patiently inside, waiting for the ride to end. A small screen was on the wall beside Jacob. It flickered on and there was a small, innocent looking girl on the screen. She began to recited a poem.

"A horse and a man, above, below. One has a plan, but both must go. Mile after mile, above, beneath. One has a smile, and one has teeth."

Slowly, the figure in the wall began to swivel around, its frown turning towards Jacob.

"Though the man above might say hello Expect no love from the beast below."

The Vator suddenly dropped at full speed. Jacob yelled as he fell. He stumbled to the screen and began to pound on it furiously and in pure terror. "Help! HELP ME! Help!" It all went still. The screen turned to 000. The doors of the Vator slid open to reveal a bright, red light shining on Jacob. The face in the wall turned once more, somehow showing – not the first happy face – but an angry, fierce face.

Young Jacob screamed.

-:():-:():-:():-:():-:():-:()*():-:():-:():-:():-: ():-:():-

John stared.

They were in space. They were actually…in space!

'My name is John Watson. When I was ten, I had an imaginary friend. Last night was the night before I would be the best man at my cousin Rory Williams wedding…'

"Come on over, Watson!" said the Doctor with a grin, standing by the console, letting John stare into the beauty called space.

'…And my imaginary friend came back.'

John stepped a few paces back from the door. The Doctor skipped over. "Now do you believe me?"

John continued to gape. "We're…We're actually in space. As in…for real. Your box is a time machine! This is bloody–!" He immediately stopped, a thought dawning upon him. "Wait…what are we breathing?"

The Doctor smirked proudly. "Air. Air's surrounding the TARDIS in an air shell. Like a bubble. I've extended it. We're completely safe." The Doctor spotted something and squatted close to the edge. "Well that's interesting." John looked over the edge of the TARDIS, trying to get a glimpse of what the Doctor saw. "29th century. Solar flares roast the Earth." The Doctor walked back to the console. "The entire human race packs its bags and moves off until the weather calms down. Entire countries…whole nations…"

"Doctor?" said John.

"Migrating out to the stars…"

"Doctor?"

"Isn't that just amazing?"

"Doctor! Gah!"

The Doctor turned around to see John wasn't there. He rushed over to the doorway and saw John clinging to the roof of the TARDIS. "This isn't possible, it's defying the laws physics!" John declared. The Doctor chuckled.

"Time Lords and humans have entirely different views on laws of physics." He helped John back into the TARDIS. "See that out there?" he asked, pointing into the distance. John nodded as he spotted a manmade light. "I'm fairly sure that's Starship USA. And that one?" the Doctor pointed in another direction. "That's Spaceship Australia. Come on now. I've found us a ship."

He bounded over to the controls and showed John a starship on the TARDIS monitor. "This is the United Kingdom of Britain and Northern Ireland – all of it, bolted together and floating in the sky. Starship UK. It's Britain, but metal. That's not just a ship – that's an idea. That's a whole country, living and laughing and...solving crimes." John chuckled. "Searching the stars for a new home."

There was a pause before John said something. "So…are we gonna go check it out?"

"Oh yes," said the Doctor, "but there is one thing, one rule I have stuck to all of my travels and one the must never be broken. We are observers only. Do not get involved in the affairs of people or planets– Ooh! That's interesting!" The screen changed from the spaceship to a video of Astrid sitting on a bench by herself, crying quietly.

"So…I suppose it's a bit like a documentary, right?" asked John. "One of those wildlife films? You see something happen to an animal, but you can do nothing about it." John looked over the screen, watching Astrid cry. "Well that's terrible! These are human beings! Are you really–" John turned around and did not see the Doctor. He glanced around as the Doctor popped up on the screen. He motioned for John to follow after him and scurried off. John sighed. This was a lot like sneaking in some place with Sherlock.

John stepped out of the TARDIS and looked around. "Welcome to London market," came a voice. "You are being monitored." John ignored it and looked up. The ceiling was an arch made of glass so he could see the stars. He turned in every direction, taking in all of the sights. He ran over to the Doctor. "I…am…in…the future. As in…for real. Really in the future!" Then a horrid realization came to him. "I've been dead for hundreds of years!"

"That's a great thought to dwell on," said the Doctor sarcastically. "But never mind that, look around. What's wrong with this picture? Think about it. Use your senses, examine everything. What's wrong with this picture?" The Doctor was reminding John so much of Sherlock at this point it was kind of weirding him out.

"Um…the segways?" The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "Well, it's kind of strange they have them on a spaceship in the 29th century, don't you think?"

"Says the one who just traveled through time and spends his days solving crimes with the universe's only Consulting Detective."

"Alright, alright, not the segways."

"Come on, look closer," encouraged the Doctor.

"London market is a crime free zone," came the same voice from earlier.

"Life on a giant starship," said the Doctor, "back to basics. Bicycles, washing lines, wind-up street lamps. But look closer. Secrets and shadows, lives led in fear. Society bent out of shape, on the brink of collapse. A police state. Excuse me."

The Doctor rushed over to a table and snatched a glass of water from a young man. Ignoring his protests, the Doctor placed the cup on the ground, lying flat to get a better look. He stood back up and handed it to the man. "Sorry. Checking all the water. Escaped fish." He walked off back to John. "Now where was I?"

"Um…what did you do with that water?"

"Oh! I don't know. I think a lot. It's hard to keep track. Now, police state — do you see it yet?" John looked around once more and with a defeated shrug, said no. The Doctor snapped and pointed at Astrid. "Right there." The Doctor and John began to walk towards the ignored child.

Little did they know they were being watched by a caped man with a pocket watch.

In an office on that same ship, a phone rang. A man answered it, watching John and the Doctor closely on a monitor. "Are you sure?"

"Yes," said the caped man on the other side of the line. "I saw it with my own eyes."

"Are you going to tell her?"

"We're under orders to tell her."

"Well done. Keep tabs on him."

And with that, both the strange, suspicious men hung up.

The man in the office dialed another number. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but there's been a sighting. London Block. Oxford Street. A man."

"Did he do the thing?" asked the voice of a woman.

"Apparently."

"I'll have a look at the monitors."

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The Doctor and John sat on a bench facing Astrid. "So what's important about this little girl crying? Not that I don't feel sympathetic, but why are you so immersed in it?"

"Crying silently. I mean, children cry cause they want attention, cause they're hurt or afraid. When they cry silently, it's cause they just can't stop. Any parent knows that."

John raised an eyebrow. "And you know that because…you're a parent?"

The Doctor was slightly startled at the question, but ignored it and did not answer. "Hundreds of parents walking past this spot and not one of them's asking her what's wrong, which means...they already know, and it's something they don't talk about. Secrets. They're not helping her, so it's something they're afraid of. Shadows – whatever they're afraid of – it's nowhere to be seen, which means it's everywhere. Police state."

The lift bell rang and Astrid got up and stepped inside. A robotic man in a booth turned to keep a watch on her. "Where'd she go?" asked John.

"Deck 207, Apple Sesame block, Dwelling 21B. You're looking for Astrid Turner. Oh," the Doctor reached into his pocket, "this fell out of her pocket when I accidentally bumped into her." He handed John Astrid's ID wallet. "Took me four goes. Ask her about those things – the smiling fellows in the booths. They're everywhere."

John looked around and stared to notice how many there really were. "They are a bit creepy."

"And?"

John paused, looking over them. "They're…clean," he deduced.

The Doctor snapped and grinned. "Bingo! Everything else here is battered and filthy – look at this place. But no one's laid a finger on those booths. Not a footprint within two feet of them. Ask Astrid: 'Why are people scared of the things in the booths?' "

The Doctor tried to walk off when John stopped him. "Wait, what am I doing? I have no clue what I'm doing here and I don't even know which year we're in!"

"It's either this or Baker Street. Both exciting, ooh! Which one will Dr. John Watson choose?" John rolled his eyes as the Doctor's antics. "Haha! Gotcha!" He looked down at his watch. "See ya right here in a half hour." He leapt over the bench.

"Well what are you going to do?" inquired John.

"What I normally do. Stay out of trouble…badly…"

Before the Doctor got very far, John turned to face him. "So is this how it works? Don't get involved unless there's crying children?"

The Doctor pondered it for a moment then shrugged. "Yes."

The Doctor hurried off and left John on his own. With a sigh, he tried to gather his bearings and figure out which way to go. He started off down a street and looked around at the booths and the people. "You're following me," stated a voice. John jumped and looked around to see Astrid. "Why are you following me?"

John stepped forward and handed out the ID. "Here. You dropped this."

"Yeah, only after your friend kept bumping into me." Astrid snatched her ID wallet and stuffed it in her pocket.

"So why were you crying?" John asked, kneeling to her level.

Astrid brushed him off. "I don't wanna talk about it." She turned away with folded arms. John stood back up and looked around, spotting an area cut off by barriers.

"What's that?"

"There's a hole," explained Astrid, "we can't go that way."

"I'm sorry, a what? A hole?"

Astrid looked him up and down. "Yeah, a hole." John turned towards the barriers. "Are you really that daft? There's a hole in the road, we can't go that way! There's a travel pipe down by the airlocks, if you've got stamps. What are you doing?" John cautiously stepped forward and stood next to the barrier.

"Don't mind me. I've come to learn 'keep out' normally means something fishy's going on." He looked over the barriers, examining them. "So what's so scary about a hole? Is there something under the road? They'll repair it, right?"

Astrid glanced at a man in a nearby booth. "We aren't suppose to talk about it."

"Talk about what?" asked John squatting down to get a look at the lock.

Astrid gulped. "Below," she said quietly.

John nodded. "Right." He reached into his pocket and took out his pocket knife. He got to work picking at the lock.

Astrid watched from over John's shoulder. "You're different. I haven't met or even seen someone like you on this ship."

"I've actually never been on this ship in my life. I'm just visiting."

Astrid was confused. "So…how did you get here then?"

John shrugged, knowing he probably shouldn't tell this girl about the TARDIS. "Just happened to pass by while traveling with a friend."

"Is he your best friend?"

John stopped picking the lock. The man in the booth nearby slowly turned around to show his disapproving frown. John turned to look at the young, frightened girl. He sighed. "No, not my best friend. A really good friend, yes; but not my best friend." He continued working on the lock.

"So how long have you been friends?"

John shrugged. "It's a bit complicated. I've been friends with him for about twenty years but he's only been friends with me for about two days, if that." The lock clicked and John smiled. He turned to Astrid. "I'll be right back. And before you can ask, no, you aren't coming."

"I never wanted to!" protested the young girl with wide, frightened eyes. John smiled half heartedly and ducked into the tent. The face of the man in his booth turned once more and was growling in anger. Astrid's eyes widened. "Wait!" she called out. "Don't go in!"

John looked around and couldn't see much with nothing but the red emergency lights. He reached into his pocket and took out a mini torch. He shone it around the room and in the beam of light caught sight of a part of a living creature. He jumped back and stared at it. He slowly stepped forward. "What–what is that?" he asked out loud. The thing shot forward and tried to attack him. John couldn't tell if it was a beak or a stinger. He yelled in surprise and stumbled out of the tent.

John turned around and saw no sign of Astrid and found several hooded men surrounding him. John stood a bit straighter. "H-Hello. Can-Can I help you?" he stuttered. The only response he was given was one man stretching forward a fist. The ring on his finger sprayed out some sort of anesthetic into his face, making John fall unconscious.


	4. The Beast Below - Part II

Yay! :D First reviewers!

**Cookietron (guest) - You'll just have to read on! :) I couldn't just get rid of River-Song, now could I? In that case, I still needed Any and Rory and I started wracking my brain for ideas how it would work. John being the best man at Rory's wedding was just what popped to mind :) Mercy? Ha! I will keep going, I will definitely keep going! Thank you!**

**With a Sprinkle of Winter - Thanks :D I need to add River somehow, right?**

The first thing John saw when he awoke was a smiling robotic man in a booth. That is not what anyone wants to see when they first wake up. He jumped and looked around. He was in some sort of booth. He saw a television set in front of him. Below it, at hand level, were three buttons. 'Forget', 'Record', and 'Protest'.

"Welcome to voting cubicle 221B." John laughed aloud at the irony of that. "Please leave this installation as you would wish to find it." John stood up to get a better look around the room. "The United Kingdom recognises the right to know of all its citizens. A presentation concerning the history of Starship UK will begin shortly. Your identity is being verified on our electoral roll." John sat back down in the chair. "Name – Jonathan Hamish Watson. Age – 1315."

John gaped. So they did have his records. He really was long gone. "Bloody…"

"Martial status…" John perked up. This was the time he would learn if he ever found a woman. "…unknown." He slumped back into his chair, slightly disappointed.

As the screens turned on, an older man could be seen. He began presenting the video. "You are here because you want to know the truth about this starship, and I am talking to you because you're entitled to know. When this presentation has finished, you will have a choice. You may either protest…or forget. If you choose to protest, understand this: If just one percent of the population of this ship does likewise, the program will be discontinued, with consequences for you all. If you choose to accept the situation – and we hope that you will – then press the 'forget' button. All the information I am about to give you will be erased from your memory. You will continue to enjoy the safety and amenities of Starship UK, unburdened by the knowledge of what has been done to save you. Here, then, is the truth about Starship UK, and the price that has been paid for the safety of the British people."

The man disappeared and was replaced by several quickly flashing images. The next thing he knew, John had his hand pressed on the forget button and it was glowing red. He looked around, a bit confused and disoriented. Then the screen turned on once more. He was on screen. "This isn't a trick," said his telly self. "You've got to find the Doctor and get him back to the TARDIS. Don't let him investigate. Stop him. Do whatever you have to. Just please, please get the Doctor off this ship!"

A door opened behind John and he jumped. The Doctor stepped inside a bit. "John?" John hurriedly turned off the replaying message. "Jonathan, what have you done?"

Not that much later, the Doctor was pointing his sonic screwdriver at the lightbulb above the chair. "Yep. We've got your basic memory wipe. Nothing to fret over, just the last twenty minutes." He jumped down from the chair.

"But what I don't understand is…why did I choose 'forget'?"

"Everyone does," informed Astrid with a shrug. "Everyone chooses 'forget'."

"Did you?" wondered the Doctor.

Astrid shook her head, ginger curls bouncing. "I'm only thirteen. I'm not sixteen yet, so I'm not eligible to vote. Once your sixteen you vote and every five years from then on."

"And once every five years, everyone chooses to forget what they've learned. Democracy in action." The Doctor walked over to the screen and the buttons.

"How do you not know about all of this?" asked Astrid. "Are you from another starship too?"

"No. Well, sort of. I dunno. But it won't play for me."

"But it played for me," said John.

"But the computer won't even accept me as human."

"You're not human?" asked John. "You look human–" He cut himself off, remembering a conversation he had with the Doctor before first running off. "Right. Alien."

"And technically speaking, you look Time Lord. We came first." He turned back to the console. "Hold tight. We're bringing down the government." John grinned, imagining what Sherlock and Mycroft would think if they heard the Doctor say that.

The Doctor slammed his fist down on the 'Protest' button. The door slammed shut, locking Astrid outside. The Doctor yanked John into a corner of the room as the floor began to slide open. The Doctor had a ridiculous grin on his face.

"Say: 'Wheeeee!' "

John's eyes widen and his mouth opened, but no noises escaped his lips but a small, short "Ah!" The Doctor laughed.

"Geronimooooooooo…"

The floors opened completely and the duo fell down the chute.

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Astrid stood outside the voting cubical and saw the light switch from occupied, to empty. A woman stepped up to her from behind and she jumped. Astrid swiveled around quickly to see a woman with black, frizzy hair and a mask. The woman chuckled. "No need to be frightened, love." She took off her mask and Astrid relaxed.

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"…ooooooooo!" The Doctor landed on the ground with a thud, shortly followed by John, who yelped on impact. The Doctor quickly scrambled to his feet and took out his sonic screwdriver. "High-speed air cannon. Lousy way to travel."

John slowly got to his feet and tried to brush off the muck on him. "So where exactly are we?"

"Six hundred feet down, twenty miles laterally. Heart of the ship. I would say…Lancashire. What's this, then – a cave? Can't be a cave. Looks like a cave, though."

John looked around. "It's a dump," he explained. "It's a rubbish dump."

"Yes, but only food refuse." The Doctor sniffed the air. "Organic, coming through feeder tubes from all over this ship."

John walked a few steps before jumping up and down. "The floor's all…weird. Dunno how to explain it. It's like…a giant water ballon."

The Doctor didn't pay attention and continued mumbling to himself. "But feeding what, though?"

John got on his hands and knees to get a better look. "It's slimy," he said. "It's wet too." He shook his head in disgust.

Realization suddenly struck the Doctor when a low, grumbling moan could be heard. "Oh…Er…It's not a floor, it's a…" The Doctor put his sonic screwdriver in his pocket. "So…"

John was a bit confused. "A what? What is it?"

"The next word is kind of the scary word. Take a moment. Get yourself in a calm place." He grabbed John's shoulders. "Go 'omm'."

"Why would I need to do that?"

"Calm place," reminded the Doctor.

"I've seen and heard pretty scary things, Doctor. I don't need to meditate."

The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "You sure?" John nodded. "Well…it's a tongue."

John was aghast. "A tongue? For real?"

The Doctor nodded excitedly with a huge grin. "Yeah! A great, big tongue!"

John stared at the Doctor in stunned disbelief. "A tongue? Really? We're standing on a tongue?" the Doctor nodded. "So that means this is a–"

"Mouth!" finished the Doctor. He glanced around. "Roomy too. That's nice."

"Well how the heck are we suppose to get out?!"

The Doctor took out his sonic screwdriver again. "How big is this beastie? It's gorgeous! Blimey! if this is just the mouth, I'd love to see the stomach." The Doctor was reminding John of Sherlock again. A growl interrupted both of their thoughts. "Though not right now."

The Doctor spun around worriedly, trying to think of something. "Well we can just get out through the mouth, right?" asked John.

"OK, it's being fed through surgically implanted feeder tubes, so the normal entrance is…" the Doctor spotted a large wall of sharp teeth, "closed for business."

"Well we have to do something!" John started to walk towards the teeth.

"No!" warned the Doctor. "Stop! Don't move!" John stood stock still. "Too late. It's started."

"What has?"

The Doctor looked around hurriedly. "The swallow reflex."

John's eyes widened and there was a grumble and they both slipped back into the refuse. The Doctor whipped out his screwdriver and pointed it at the walls of the mouth, waving it wildly. "What are you doing?" asked John.

"I'm vibrating the chemo-receptors."

"And that means…?"

"The eject button."

John was a bit confused. "Eject button? How does a mouth have an–" His eyes widened once he realized. "Oh…"

The creature growled and the duo of time travelers tried to get off their feet and onto their knees. Then they saw a large wave of bile coming towards them. John was horrified. "Well," said the Doctor, straightening his bow tie. "This isn't going to be big on dignity. Geronimo!"

"Ah!"

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John slowly opened his eyes and with a groan, looked around. "There's nothing broken, there's no sign of concussion and yes, you are covered in sick."

John got to his feet and looked disgustedly down at himself. He tried to shake it off. "So where are we now?"

"Overspill pipe, at a guess."

"So how do we get out?"

The Doctor walked over to the door. "One door, one door switch, one condition." The Doctor moved to show a 'forget' button on the door. "We forget everything we saw. Look familiar? That's the carrot." The lights came on to reveal two smiling robotic figures. "Ooh, here's the stick. There's a creature living in the heart of this ship. What's it doing there?" The faces spun to show mad. "No, that's not going to work on me, so come on. Big ol' beast below decks, and everyone who protests gets shoved down its throat. That how it works?" The faces spun again to show anger. "Oh, stop it. I'm not leaving and I'm not forgetting and what are you fellows going to do about it? Stick out your tongues?"

The booths swung open and the robots stepped out. They begin to march towards John and the Doctor who back away.

"So what do we do?"

A woman appeared behind them and quickly pulled out a gun, blasting the things to bits. She twirled her pistol before placing it back in the holster on her hip. "Look who it is," said the Doctor. "You look a lot better without your mask."

"You must be John," the woman said with a nod. "Liz. Liz Ten."

"Er…hi." John shook Liz's hand.

"Eck!" Liz exclaimed, rubbing her hand on her cloak. "Shame about the sick. Nice hair by the way, John." John then realized he hadn't seen himself in the mirror since the mouth incident. He quickly tried to fix it in vain. "You've met Astrid, yeah?" Liz put her arm around the girl's shoulder. "She's very brave."

"How did you find us?" the Doctor inquired.

"Stuck my gizmo on you." Liz tossed him a device. "Been listening in. Nice moves on the hurl escape. So, what's the big fella doing here?"

"You're over sixteen. Whatever you've learned, whatever all of this is, you've chosen to forget about it."

"Nope. Never forgot. Never even voted. Technically not a British subject."

"Well if you aren't a British subject how did you get on the ship?" asked John. "Who are you?"

"And how do you know me?" asked the Doctor.

"You're a bit hard to miss, love," said Liz with a mysterious, sly smile. "Mysterious stranger, MO consistent with higher alien intelligence, hair of an idiot…" The Doctor pointed like he was going to argue but then turned it into running his hand through his soaked hair instead. "I've been brought up on the stories. My whole family was."

"I'm sorry," said John, "you're whole family?"

Liz nodded. One of the robotic men began to move again. "They're repairing themselves," she warned. "It doesn't take them long. We need to get out of here.

They left the overspill and Liz explained along the way. "The Doctor. Old drinking buddy of Henry XII. Tea and scones with Liz II. Vicky was a bit on the fence about you, wasn't she? Knighted and exiled you on the same day. And so much for the Virgin Queen, you bad, bad boy!"

"Liz Ten…" mused the Doctor.

A smiling man stepped out of his booth. "Liz Ten, yeah. Elizabeth X. Down!" John and the Doctor fell to the floor. She shot two robots that were behind them. "I'm the bloody queen. Basically, I rule."

Liz lad them down another corridor, coming to a stop at the base of a vator shaft. "There's a high-speed Vator through there." The Doctor looked into a caged area nearby where there were two of the things John saw earlier. "Oh, yeah," said Liz, as if suddenly reminded of something important, "There's these things. Any ideas?"

"Doctor, I saw one of these up on the first level we were at," said John. "There was a hole in the road, like it had burst through, like a root."

"Yes. Exactly like a root," said the Doctor solemnly. "It's all one creature – the same one we were inside of – reaching out. It must be growing through the mechanisms of the entire ship."

"What?" asked Liz. "Like an infection."

"Someone's helping it," the Doctor stated. "Feeding it."

"Yeah," fumed Liz. "Feeding it my subjects." She stormed off angrily, Astrid following quickly after. "Come on. We've gotta keep moving."

The Doctor stayed behind for a bit and shook his head. "Oh, Jonathan." He glanced sympathetically at the creature in the cage as it began to bang against the bars. "We never should have come here."

The Doctor began to walk away but John hesitated, remembering the message his television self gave him.

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The same man who was watching the Doctor and John on the monitors earlier was doing it again. He watched Liz, Astrid, John, and the Doctor walking down a hallway on his monitor. He spoke into a microphone. "Winder division one. Ten has penetrated to the lower levels. Initiate the protocol."

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Everyone stepped into Liz's bedroom. Several glasses of water were scattered about the floor. The Doctor stepped carefully over them. "So what are all these for?" he asked.

"To remind me everyday that my government is up to something," said Liz, sitting on her bed, "and that it's my duty to stop it."

John gingerly picked up Liz's mask. "A queen going undercover to investigate her own kingdom?"

"Secrets are being kept from me," Liz said, inviting Astrid to sit next to her. "I don't have a choice. Ten years I've been at this – my entire reign – and you've achieved more in one afternoon."

The Doctor paced a few steps and John gave him the mask. "How old were you when you got on the throne?" the Doctor asked.

"Forty. Why?"

"Wait," said John, running a hand through his hair. "So that means your fifty. How can you be fifty?" He sat down on the edge of the bed.

"Yeah, they slowed down my body clock. Keeps me looking like the stamps."

The Doctor sat down on the bed, turning the mask over in his hands. "Do you always wear this in public?"

"Going into public without it isn't very easy when your me. The autographs, the bunting, all that stuff."

"Air-balanced porcelain. Stays on by itself, cause it's perfectly sculpted to your face."

"Yeah. So?"

The Doctor shook his head with a half hearted smile. "Oh, Liz, so everything."

The doors swung open and several people marched through. They were hooded and you couldn't see their face very well. Be that as it my, John recognized them from being the ones who knocked him out. Liz stood and glared. "What are you doing here?" she said, quite outraged. "How dare you come in here!"

"Ma'am," said one of the hooded men, "you have expressed interest in the interior workings of Starship UK. You will come with us now."

"And why in the galaxy would I do that?"

The man's head turned around to show an angry face of the robotic men in the booths. Liz stepped back. "Smilers? How can they be Smilers?"

"Is that was those things are called?" asked John. "Smilers?"

"Half Smiler, half human," muttered the Doctor.

"Whatever you creatures are, I am still your queen," said Liz, putting her foot down. "On whose authority is this done?"

"The highest authority."

"I AM the highest authority."

"Yes ma'am. You must come along now ma'am."

"Where?"

"The tower, ma'am."

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The group was escorted to a large stone room containing many high-tech machines. There was a grating through in which John can see more of the creatures from earlier. "Doctor, where are we?" he asked.

"The lowest point in Starship UK." The Doctor spread his arms out wide and spun in a circle. "The dungeon."

A man stepped towards them. He was the man who had watched them on the monitors. "Ma'am," he greeted.

"Hawthorne!" said Liz in surprise. "So this is where you've been hiding yourself away, is it? You have some explaining to do."

The Doctor turned on Hawthorne. "There's children down here. What's that all about?"

"Protesters and citizens of limited value are fed to the beast," explained Hawthorne. "For some reason, it won't eat the children. You're the first adults it's spared. You're very lucky."

"Yeah, look at us. Torture chamber of the Tower of London. Lucky, lucky, lucky. Except it's not a torture chamber, is it?" The Doctor examined the equipment surrounding him. "Well, except it is. Except it isn't. Depends on your angle, really."

The Doctor stepped over to join Liz as she looked down over railing and spotted something. Something alive it would seem. "What is that?" wondered Liz.

"Well, like I say, depends on the angle. It's either the exposed pain centre of big fella's brain, being tortured relentlessly…"

"Or?" asked John.

"Or it's the gas pedal, the accelerator – Starship UK's go faster button."

John was horrified at the prospect of what this creature was going through. "I don't understand," said Liz.

"Don't you? Try, go on. The spaceship that could never fly, no vibration on deck. This creature – this poor, trapped, terrified creature. It's not infesting you, it's not invading – it's what you have instead of an engine. And this place down here is where you hurt it, where you torture it, day after day, just to keep it moving." An intermittent electrical beam shot down into the poor creature's exposed brain. "Tell you what…" The Doctor moved to another well and lifted up the grate. "…Normally, it's above the range of human hearing." One of the extensions of the creature broke free. "This is the sound none of you wanted to hear." The Doctor took out his sonic screwdriver and pressed the button. The others heard the tortured creature's call.

John put his hands over his ears at the noise. Liz was horrified. "Stop!" she ordered. "Stop it!" She turned angrily on Hawthorne. "Who did this?"

"We act on the orders of the highest authority."

"But she is the highest authority!" John protested. No one moved and no one said a word.

"I am the highest authority, and I say this creature will be released, now! I said now!" No one even twitched. "Is anyone listening to me?"

The Doctor shook his head. "Your mask, Liz. Your mask." He looked sympathetically at her, tossing her mask over in his hands. "It's old. Over two hundred years old, I'd say."

"Yeah, so? It's an antique, is that a problem?"

"Yeah, an antique made by craftsmen over two hundred years ago and perfectly sculpted to your face," explained the Doctor. "They slowed your body clock alright, but you're not fifty. Nearer three hundred. And it's been a long old reign."

Liz stepped back and John's eyes flickered between them. "No. No, it can't be, no. It's been ten years, only ten years. I've been on the throne ten years."

"Ten years. And the same ten years over and over again," the Doctor took her by the hand, "always leading you…" The Doctor showed Liz the voting area. "…here." The buttons read 'forget' and 'abdicate'.

Liz's eyes flickered over the buttons. "What have you done?" she asked Hawthorne in a whisper.

He shook his head. "Only what you have ordered. We work for you, Ma'am. The Winders, the Smilers, all of us." He reached over and turned on the screen to show a message. A different Liz was on the screen.

"If you are watching this…If I am watching this, then I have found my way to the Tower Of London." The real Liz Ten sat in the seat in front of the screen. "The creature you are looking at is called a Star Whale. Once, there were millions of them. They lived in the depths of space and, according to legend, guided the early space travelers through the asteroid belts. This one, as far as we are aware, is the last of its kind. And what we have done to it breaks my heart." The Doctor, Hawthorne, John, and Astrid watched the scene in silence. "The Earth was burning. Our sun had turned on us, and every other nation had fled to the skies. Our children screamed as the skies grew hotter. And then it came, like a miracle. The last of the star whales. We trapped it, we built our ship around it, and we rode on its back to safety. If you wish our voyage to continue, then you must press the 'forget' button." Liz Ten looked at the button indicated. "Be again the heart of this nation, untainted. If not, press the other button." The real Liz quickly glanced at 'abdicate'. "Your reign will end, the Star Whale will be released, and our ship will disintegrate. I hope I keep the strength to make the right decision."

The screen flickered off and everyone was silent. Then John spoke up, breaking the silence. "And I voted for this?" He turned to the Doctor. "Why would I vote for this?"

"Because you knew if we stayed here, I'd be faced with an impossible choice. Humanity or the alien. You took it upon yourself to save me from that. And that was wrong. You don't ever again decide what I need to know."

"But I don't even remember doing it," John said quietly.

"Well you did it, and that's what counts." The Doctor whipped around and walked a few paces away.

"I'm…I'm sorry," John said, apologizing.

"So? Oh, I don't care. When I'm done here, you're going home." The Doctor began to walk further away.

John was a bit shocked. "What? Why? Just because I made a mistake, a simple mistake, one mistake? Doctor, I don't even remember doing it!"

"Yeah, you're only human," the Doctor said angrily. He began to look over several controls and mess with other panels.

"Doctor," said Liz, "what are you doing?"

"The worst thing I'll ever do. I'm going to pass a massive electrical charge through the Star Whale's brain. Should knock out all its higher functions, leave it a vegetable. The ship will still fly, but the whale won't feel it."

John was horrified. "But that would be like killing it!"

"Look, three options. One: I let the Star Whale continue in unendurable agony for hundreds more years. Two: I kill everyone on this ship. Three: I murder a beautiful, innocent creature as painlessly as I can. And then I find a new name, cause I won't be the Doctor any more. Doctor's help people, and I'm not doing that."

The Doctor continued to work on the panels. "There must be something we can do," said Liz Ten, "some other way."

"Nobody talk to me!" yelled the Doctor. "Nobody human has anything to say to me today!" He turned back to his work and refused to speak to anyone.

One by one, everyone began to back away, knowing there was nothing they could do. John leaned up against a wall and slid down it with a sigh. He shook his head and Astrid came over and sat next to him. "Is the Doctor always like this?" she asked timidly. John looked over at her.

He shook his head and watched the Doctor at his work. "No. No, not really. Then again, I've only really seen him in a stressful situation once before. At that time he wasn't like this though." He looked back at Astrid. "So…why were you crying earlier?"

Astrid looked away quickly, trying to hide her tear filling eyes. Then three children entered the room. Astrid looked up and spotted one young boy covered in dust and dirt. Underneath the filth you could see ginger hair just like Astrid's and hazel eyes matching the girl's own. Astrid leapt to her feet. "Jacob!" she cried. She rushed over to her younger brother's side and hugged him tight. "I thought-I thought you were gone!" she hiccuped. "It's okay, it's okay. It's just me, it's just Astrid." Jacob said nothing.

They stopped in front of one of the feelers of the Star Whale and Astrid had her back to it. The feeler reached out towards the girl and John started to move forward to them. Instead of hurting her, the feeler gently taped Astrid on the back and let her pet it. And then…John began to understand.

_"C'mon, use your eyes. Notice everything. Notice everything."_

_He remembered seeing Astrid crying silently as he remembered parts of Liz's explanation._

_"Our children screamed. It came, like a miracle."_

_"It won't eat the children."_

_"Children screamed. Then it came. It's the last of its kind."_

_He remembered the Doctor with Astrid, the feelers in the vator shaft, the glasses of water._

_"The last of its kind."_

_"Is this how it works, Doctor? Never interfere with other peoples or planets…"_

_"Children screamed."_

_He remembered meeting the Doctor when he was a just a child. Just a child with a scary closet that led to an alien spaceship._

_"…unless it's children crying."_

_"The last of its kind."_

_"Unless there's children crying."_

_"Yes."_

_"It won't eat the children."_

_He remembered seeing the children playing when they arrived._

_"Then it came. Like a miracle. The last of the Star Whales."_

John looked over and saw Astrid, Jacob, and some other children petting the Star Whale. Then it struck him. "Doctor, stop," he said. John hurried over to the Doctor. "Whatever you're doing, stop it! I know what to do!" The Doctor continued to ignore him, so John threw away being rational. He walked over to Liz. "Sorry, Your Majesty, but I'm going to have to borrow your hand for a moment." John grabbed her wrist and led her to the buttons. "I can't believe I'm doing this to royalty," he muttered.

"John?" asked the Doctor in confusion. "John, no! Stop! Jonathan!"

John forced Liz Ten's hand onto the abdicate button. The Star Whale bellowed, each deck on the entire ship rippling like an earthquake. "Watson…" said the Doctor. "What have you done?"'

"Nothing. I hope…"

Hawthorne looked over some information on a console in front of him. "We've…We've increased speed!"

"Yep. It helps when you stop torturing the pilot."

"It's still here," said Liz. "I don't understand."

"The Star Whale didn't come like a miracle all those years ago. It volunteered! You didn't have to trap it or torture it – that was all just you. It came because it couldn't stand to watch your children cry. What if you were really old, and really kind and alone? What if your whole race was dead, and you didn't think you had a future. What would you do then? If you were that old, and that kind, and the very last of your race…" John turned to face the Doctor, "…you couldn't just stand there and watch children cry."

The Doctor was silent for a long time, as if the words personally struck him.

-:():-:():-:():-:():-:():-:()*():-:():-:():-:():-: ():-:():-

The Doctor stood on his own on an observation deck, looking across Starship UK. John walked up to him. "From Her Majesty," he said, holding out the mask. "She says there will be no more secrets on Starship UK."

"John," sighed the Doctor, "you could have killed everyone on this ship."

"But you've been further into the future than this, right? You would have known. So I couldn't have. Besides, you could've killed the last Star Whale."

The Doctor turned to face John. "And you saved it. I know, I know."

"Amazing, though, don't you think? The Star Whale. All that pain and misery…and loneliness." He looked sideways at the Doctor. "And it just made it kind."

"But you couldn't have known how it would react."

"Be that as it may, I've seen things quite similar through my days," he side. "Quite similar…" He shrugged. "Other than the Targenta I haven't met any last of their kind." The Doctor stiffened. John looked him in the eye. "Or…at least…I don't think I have…"

The Doctor sighed. "Don't worry about it. It's a story for another day."

John was wide eyed. "Oh…my gosh, I am so, so sorry.

"Ah, no worries!" the Doctor said with a grin. "For now, we get ready for everything. You. Me. The two of us against the universe."

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The Doctor walked up to the TARDIS with John in pursuit. "Shouldn't we say goodbye?" asked John. "I mean, won't they wonder where we went?"

"For the rest of their lives. Oh, the songs they'll write! Never mind them. Big day tomorrow."

John stopped short. Big day? The Doctor couldn't know about him being best man, could he? "I'm sorry? Why a big day?"

"Every day's a big day!" said the Doctor happily. "I have a time machine! I just skip the little ones." The Doctor unlocked the TARDIS. Before either of them could step inside John stopped him.

"You know what I said about getting back for tomorrow morning? Well…Have you ever run away from something because you were confused, or didn't think you could do something, or just…just because you could?"

"Once," the Doctor said with a sigh. "A long…long time ago."

A phone began to ring.

"Right…Wait, is that a phone ringing?" The time traveling duo entered the TARDIS. "People ring you?"

"Yeah. It's a phone box after all." The Doctor worked on preparing to dematerialize. "Would you mind?"

John walked over an picked up the phone from the console. "Hello?…Sorry, who…Really?…Who again?" John muffled the phone against her shoulder and turned towards the Doctor. "Says he's Prime Minister. First the Queen, now the Prime Minister? You wouldn't happen to know Mycroft, would you?"

The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "You mean Mycroft Holmes? Sherlock's brother?" John was merely wide eyed and silent. The Doctor cleared his throat awkwardly. "Which prime minister?"

John lifted the phone to his ear again. "Which prime minister?" He held the phone away. "The British one."

"Which British one?"

"Um, which British one?" There was a pause and John was shocked. "Winston Churchill on the line for you, Doctor."

The Doctor snatched away the phone. "Hello, dearie. What's up?"

"Tricky situation, Doctor. Potentially very dangerous." A shadow on the wall behind the Prime Minister revealed that of a Dalek. "I think I'm going to need you."

"Don't worry about a thing, Prime Minister. We're on our way."

The TARDIS then dematerialized from Starship UK, leaving no trace but a continuing society and a willing, happy Star Whale.

_In bed above, we're deep asleep  
While greater love lies further deep  
This dream must end  
This world must know  
We all depend on the beast below._

**And thus ends the Beast Below! :D Please review!**


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